It wasn’t until I carried the bucket and basin filled with shampoo, body wash, and various skincare products into the bathroom and closed the door that I realized what Tang Xiaolu meant by “Take a good look at a girl’s body.”
In the bathroom, I lowered my head and looked at the pair of little white rabbits with vague outlines on my chest.
They were very small, as if they had just begun to develop, but their curves were already quite beautiful.
I could clearly feel them rising and falling with each breath, sending back a strange, pleasant sensation.
Besides my chest, the lower half of my body, clad in a light, fluttering skirt, also gave me the illusion of “a lifetime ago”—though I had already mostly gotten used to being a girl back in the classroom, this was the first time I was earnestly feeling the organs unique to a girl, transmitted from every part of my body.
splash—
In a daze, the girl taking a shower next door seemed to have dumped a bucket of water.
The sudden sound of water pulled my thoughts back to reality.
Well… it’s my own body, so whatever.
With that thought, I set the bucket and basin aside and started taking off my clothes.
Black River City No. 3 Middle School was a demonstration high school in Black River City and the only “Colorful Bird Experimental High School” in the city.
It was said that not a few months after Black River City proposed the concept of “Colorful Bird,” they received a flood of complaints from local parents, accusing the Education Bureau of engaging in crooked ways and not letting their children study properly.
However, the Black River City government ultimately withstood the pressure and made No. 3 Middle School the first “Colorful Bird Experimental High School.”
Put simply, this “Colorful Bird” was a combination of “quality education” and “happy education.”
No. 3 Middle School was different from all the other high schools in the city.
To enter, students had to take their independent admissions exam and pass the test.
I still remember the school’s exam papers.
In addition to the basic subjects—Chinese, math, English, science, and liberal arts—the papers also included various questions related to “moral character,” such as how to handle a quarrel with a roommate or how to respect others online.
Personally, I felt those morality-related questions were similar to the “barrage etiquette tests” on video streaming sites.
In other words…
No. 3 Middle School wanted to admit students who had a solid foundation in academics, were reasonably capable of learning, and had moral standards at least above a passing line.
Compared to other high schools in Black River City, the school rules at No. 3 were also very “relaxed”—there were no strange, cumbersome rules like “the trash can must not contain any trash,” “male students must have buzz cuts, female students cannot have long hair,” or “no drinking water during class.”
The school had a dedicated psychological counseling room, the computer lab was open after school, students were allowed to bring cell phones onto campus, and they even thoughtfully placed safe charging sockets on the student desks in the dormitories.
As long as it wasn’t class time or sleep time, you could use your phone however you wanted.
Additionally, No. 3 allowed students to eat outside campus during lunch and after school.
If they needed anything for daily life, they could go out and buy it, as long as boarding students returned before lunch break or evening self-study.
Beyond that, the school didn’t excessively interfere with students’ personal appearance.
The girls’ uniform was even a skirt style—something very rare in the city.
For example, the one I was wearing was a classic combination of a “British-style blouse, uniform skirt, and uniform shoes.”
This girls’ uniform was cute, but… a bit troublesome to put on and take off.
It took me a while in the bathroom to roughly figure out the structure of the uniform.
I undid the buttons inside the collar, then removed the small bowknot and necktie from my chest, and took off the blouse.
To my surprise, the skirt that went with this uniform had a double zipper structure.
The horizontal zipper adjusted the tightness of the skirt, while the vertical zipper allowed the skirt to stay firmly above the lower abdomen.
There were also hidden pockets on both sides of the skirt, practical and convenient.
After taking off the uniform skirt and underwear, I looked at my naked self in the bathroom and felt a mix of emotions.
This… was the wish I made for Mama.
Just like my usual “compliant” personality, because Mama wanted me to be a girl, I wished to become a girl.
I had no thoughts of my own, no regret or struggle over losing my identity as a boy.
Earlier, when we were eating at the fast-food restaurant, Tang Xiaolu had asked me why, since I missed Mama so much, I didn’t wish for Qiu Bi to revive her.
At that time, I really wanted to say… I was afraid that if Mama came back and saw me, she would still say, “If only you were a girl.”
But wishing to “become a real girl” through Qiu Bi eliminated that possibility.
It was like when I was little, and Dad took me to a clothing store and asked which outfit I liked—I always said, “Whatever.”
Because I knew that if I chose what I really liked, Dad would still take the opportunity to criticize me: “Blue isn’t manly at all,” “This style isn’t good, what kind of taste do you have,” “Don’t say anything, let Dad pick for you.”
So I chose the wish that would “inevitably” satisfy Mama’s desire—that is, to become a girl, rather than “revive a dead relative.”
I turned my gaze to the small mirror in the bathroom.
A slightly chubby loli face, elf-like big eyes and eyelashes, black hair falling past my waist, snowy white and tender skin, little white rabbits just beginning to bud, a flat and firm belly, a small and slender waist, slightly knock-kneed but cute legs… that was roughly the outline of my body as a girl.
To be honest, I didn’t hate it.
“Hey, Lulu.”
As I turned on the hot water showerhead, I placed my Soul Gem on the tiled shelf in the center and spoke to Tang Xiaolu through my Magical Girl ability: “Back in the classroom, you said… after everyone falls asleep tonight, we’ll go to your secret base together, right?”
“Mm, you should have noticed too. The balcony outside our girls’ dorm sink area doesn’t have guardrails, and the playground cameras don’t face this way. We can transform into Magical Girls and jump down then.”
In no time, Tang Xiaolu’s voice echoed in my mind: “What’s up, little one? Got another plan?”
“I’m not a little one…”
I subconsciously retorted, then continued: “I just wanted to ask, are there any other Magical Girls at the secret base? If so, how should I get along with them?”
“There used to be. That place was built by me and my companions. At the start, there were five of us. Now only I’m left.”
When she mentioned this, Tang Xiaolu’s voice suddenly turned a bit sad.
“But the base still has their Grief Seeds. I can introduce you to them later.”